The House Building Finance Corporation will disburse Tk 250 crore loans in 2009-10 fiscal year, marginally higher than the just-concluded 2008-09 fiscal.
   In 2008-09 fiscal, the public organisation disbursed house building loan of Tk 243 crore.
    ‘The amount to be disbursed in the current fiscal year will be not less than Tk 250 crore. It can be higher than this,’ the BHBFC managing director, Raihana Aneesa Yusuf Ali, told New Age.
   She said, ‘There is a huge demand of BHBFC loan. If I have the money, I will be able to disburse as high as Tk 1,000 crore.’
   Meanwhile, the corporation has recovered Tk 373 crore in the outgoing 2008-09 fiscal that was Tk 16 crore less than the previous fiscal year. The amount of recovered loan stood at Tk 389 crore in 2007-08 fiscal.
   The recovery target was set at Tk 402 crore in 2008-09 fiscal year while the target was Tk 400 crore for financial year 2007-08.
   About the decline in recovery, the managing director said in 2008-09 fiscal, the recoverable amount was less than the previous fiscal year.
   She said of the recoverable amount of Tk 497 crore, Tk 373 crore was recovered in the just-concluded financial year while in 2007-08, Tk 389 crore was recovered out of recoverable amount of Tk 538 crore.

Governments on both sides of the Atlantic are fighting settlements between big pharmaceutical companies and generic firms that delay marketing of cheap versions of brand-name drugs.
   But don’t write off the chances of Big Pharma, which has already shown impressive clout in both the legal and political arenas.
   The settlements are reached after generic companies indicate they plan to bring out cheaper copies of brand-name drugs, and the drugs’ makers accuse the generics of infringement.
   The US Federal Trade Commission says the settlements are illegal if generic entrances are delayed in exchange for payment, but drug companies say the deals are no more than settlements of what could be expensive litigation.
   EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said this week that she was determined to oppose such settlements, which she said had pushed up European consumers’ bills by 20 per cent between 2000 and 2007. The FTC puts the cost for US consumers and insurers at an additional $3.5 billion a year.
   Drug companies say the settlements can save consumers money by bringing generics to market before patents expire, while eliminating the uncertainties of court trials.
   While the FTC was the first to challenge the so-called reverse payment settlements, the European Union has been increasingly active, said Chul Pak, an FTC veteran now with the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
    ‘They’re not so different any more. They used to be very different,’ he said.
   The FTC was actively filing lawsuits to stop the cases even during the Bush administration, when the Justice Department was hostile to such lawsuits.
   The EU, meanwhile, became much more vigorous in opposing the settlements during the Bush administration, Pak said. ‘It’s fairly new to them.’
   Regulators from both sides of the Atlantic discuss the deals but have different traditions of patent and antitrust law.
    ‘We can certainly talk to them and we do have some cross pollination, not about individual matters but about general approaches,’ said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. ‘It’s more like conscious parallelism, from our perspective.’
   It will be legal battles that will eventually determine if brand-name companies will be allowed to continue to make these settlements in Europe, said Nicola Holmes, a senior associate at international law firm Eversheds.
   But the FTC so far has had little success in court.
   In 2006, the FTC failed to convince the Supreme Court to hear its case against Schering-Plough Corp for a deal with Upsher-Smith.
   This year, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case brought by a pension fund that alleged Bayer AG made an illegal deal with Barr, now part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, to delay marketing of a generic version of the antibiotic Cipro.
   Even with the Justice Department’s new opposition to the practice, US judges are unlikely to begin ruling against the deals, said Thomas Krattenmaker, an FTC veteran and retired Georgetown University law professor.
    ‘I wouldn’t say nil but there’s no question it’s slight,’ he said.
   If legal battles fail to stop the practice, there is always the congressional route. There are bills in both the Senate and US House of Representatives to ban it and President Barack Obama is known to support such a ban.
   The bills are being stiffly fought by both the brand-name pharmaceuticals and the generics, and the power of the drug industry should not be underestimated.
   It has so far succeeded in preventing the determined and deep-pocketed tech industry from getting patent reform through Congress, for example.
   Brian Laegler, an analyst with Morningstar who follows generic drug companies, thought the two-pronged, two-continent attack on the settlements would have little impact on the industry.
    ‘It’s an important issue that certainly has the government’s attention. But in terms of how it will impact the fair value of the firms we cover, I think over the long term it’s probably one of the smaller issues,’ he said. ‘This battle has been going on for a long time.’

A fresh initiative by the knitwear exporters to increase the country’s export earnings has opened up a new avenue, offering more business opportunities in Hong Kong.
   The chances have been opened after a recent meeting between the leaders of Bangladesh exporters and the leading importers of Hong Kong.
   After the meeting on Friday in Hong Kong, the importers of the major Asian business hub, assured Bangladeshi knitwear exporters of buying more knitwear products, a Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association press release
   said on Saturday.
   The meeting also discussed the possibility of exporting Bangladeshi goods to China through Hong Kong.
   The business leaders of Hong Kong, representing different trade bodies of the country, also decided to visit Bangladesh in September to see the investment opportunity here, the press release said.
   BKMEA President Fazlul Haque led the 17-member Bangladesh team at the meeting, attended by the leaders from three major trade bodies of Hong Kong.
   The Bangladesh team visited the Asian city to participate in the Fashion Week Summer 2009, held on July 6-9 in Hong Kong.

American E-Commerce Centre, an associate of Buyerexpo USA Inc, has launched a web site with a view to providing a platform for importers, exporters, manufacturers, traders, service providers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and governmental agencies to find trade opportunities and promote their products and services online.
   The web site — buyerXpo.com — will help find buyers for international sellers, as well as find sellers for international buyers through match making trade alert service, a news release said.
   American E-commerce Centre executive secretary Khaleda Sultana Tuheen introduced the web site at a news conference in a city hotel on Saturday.
   BuyerXpo’s vision is to globalise the world’s businesses under one roof or platform so that each and every business of each town, city, state, country and continent can be registered or listed on BuyerXpo.com, she said.
   ‘Though this website (buyerXpo.com) is open for the world, we believe the greater Asian countries specially Bangladesh, India, China’s seller will get huge facility from this unique site BuyerXpo.com as because it has a country office situated in Dhaka which is controlled from the USA,’ Khaleda added.

Border trade through Bhomra Land Port in Sadar upazila of the district resumed Saturdayas Ghojadanga Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association of India withdrew its indefinite strike.
   The Association called the strike at Ghojadanga Land Port in Basirhat of India on July 6 in protest against the attacks on the C&F agents by workers of local Truck Labour Association.
   At least 100 Indian good-laden trucks entered the Bhomra Land Port from the hojadanga Land Port of India till this evening.
   Members of the Ghojadanga C&F Agents Association and the Indian Truck Labour Association were locked in a clash on June 30 over the parking of a truck on the road.
   The truck labourers also attacked the members of the C&F Agents Association in presence of police while the feuding groups attended a meeting at Basirhat thana to solve the issue on July 1, sources said.
   On Thursday, leaders of Ghojadanga C&F Agents Association and Indian Truck Labour Association at a meeting resolved the issue through a fruitful discussion. Then the Ghojadanga C&F Agents Association called off its the strike.
   Assistant commissioner (AC) of Bhomra Land Port Mohiuddin Ahmed confirmed the incident.

Experts suggests use of solar power driven water pumps as a major alternate source of irrigation for better crop yields in a power-starved country like Bangladesh.
   ‘Solar power could be used as an alternative source of electricity for irrigation to ease the country’s acute power crisis by reducing load of 700 to 800 MW in a day,’ former DG of Power Cell BD Rahmatullah on Saturday told the news agency.
   The government could take initiatives to transform the irrigation pumps into solar pumps for saving power and fuel as two pilot projects of solar irrigation plants are already working successfully in the country, he said.
   ‘Against the backdrop of power crisis, we should look at more to the renewable energy like other countries and I am reiterating that Bangladesh has the potentiality of producing 3,500MW from renewable sources,’ the former power cell chief added.
   In the country, presently state-owned power plants generate only 3,500MW of electricity a day, whereas demand is 6,000MW. The demand is growing by 500MW a year due to increasing industrialisation.
   Rahmatullah said the cost of solar panels is high, no doubt about it, but solar energy’s unique attributes to needing no fuel, high durability and reliability and being able to operate for longer periods without maintenance, make it economical for all types of applications.
   He said the government can come forward with financial package for the farmers to transfer all shallow pumps into solar ones to save the electricity and consumption of fuel.
   Adequacy of sunshine in our country makes the solar power eligible for agriculture irrigation especially for the boro crop as it is harvested during dry season, said agriculture expert M Shariful Rahman, Principal of Moniharpur Agriculture Training Institute, who runs a solar irrigation pump on a pilot basis inside his institute in Bogra district.
   ‘I ran the solar pump during the last boro season and successfully irrigated around 15 acres inside my institute,’ he said. The solar panel, which was installed by the Waste Concern, a voluntary organisation, on a pilot basis has the capacity of producing maximum of 1.4 kilowatt of electricity and 6000 litres of water in a day.
   Waste Concern executive director Maqsood Sinha said Bangladesh presently Has 11 lakh shallow tube-wells, out of which 9.03 lakh is diesel driven while the rest 1.97 lakh electricity-run.
   ‘In order to make the farmers independent of price increase of diesel, as well as to tide over the scarcity of diesel, there is a good opportunity to provide irrigation through solar powered system,’ he said.
   Director of Waste Concern Iftekhar Enayetullah said the price of solar pump along with solar panel is about Taka four to six lakh which has a life of 15 years.
   ‘A farmer holding 25 bighas of land spends Tk 75,000 per year for irrigation, therefore, simple pay back period is roughly 6.3 years whereas the life of the solar pumps is 15 years,’ he said.
   Like Waste Concern, Rahimafrooz Bangladesh, which is a pioneer in making batteries of solar panel locally, also installed another solar pump in Chapainawabganj district through a non-government organization.

Citi Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Citi, on Saturday launched the first round of The Financial IT Case Competition, first of its kind in Bangladesh.
    The competition will provide an opportunity for young and talented minds from different public and private universities to compete in the development of unique software and information system solutions for the financial sector of the country and nurture future leaders of the country, a news release said.
   State minister for science and ICT ministry Yeafesh Osman inaugurated the contest in Dhaka.
   Vice-chancellor of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam, D.Net executive director Dr Ananya Raihan, and Citibank, NA Bangladesh head of corporate and commercial bank Abrar A Anwar were present on the occasion.
   Fifty-four teams from 20 universities/institutions, including teams from eight public universities and 12 private universities are participating in this competition.
   A jury board comprised of eminent personalities from different segments of the society will supervise and assess the case solutions based on the project evaluation guidelines. The qualifying teams will be participating in the semi-final round on August 8. The winner of the competition will be announced on August 29 when the final round concludes.
   At the end of the final round the top three teams will be awarded $5,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively.
   The competition is supported by Citi Foundation and organised by Citibank, NA Bangladesh and D.Net (Development Research Network). University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh has joined this programme as the university partner.

Emirates airline is going the extra mile to help small and medium-sized enterprises through the economic challenges currently gripping businesses across the globe.
   To celebrate a successful first year for Business Rewards — the Dubai-based international carriers innovative loyalty programme tailor-made for SMEs — 5,000 bonus miles are being offered when each new account is activated, a news release said.
   With firms in 55 countries across the airline’s network recognising the broad range of benefits available, the 24/7 online rewards scheme has grown from strength to strength and now has more than 5,000 registered accounts across the globe.
   The offer of 5,000 bonus miles is only available until September 30 to new or existing members who have yet to make a booking.

Finlay Tea has recently launched a consumer promotion when the consumers can have a scratch card by buying any pack of Finlay Premium (200g and 500g), Finlay Gold (200g and 400g) and Finlay Double Chamber Tea Bag and may get chance to win Tk 1 lakh, diamond necklace, pleasure trip to Finlay Tea Garden and many more prizes, a news release said.
   Each scratch card contains a confirmed prize. Winners are requested to contact with the phone number: 8824404.

Wall Street is wilting in the summer heat, with investors increasingly uncertain about an economic and earnings recovery anytime soon.
   More caution is likely in the coming week with a wave of earnings reports expected that may offers hints on corporate expectations for recovery from recession.
   In the week to Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.62 per cent to 8,146.52 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 1.93 per cent to 879.13, marking four consecutive losing weeks for those indexes.
   The technology-heavy Nasdaq dropped 2.25 per cent over the week to 1,756.03.
   Al Goldman, chief market strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, said the market remains in a ‘correction-consolidation’ phase within a trading range.
   ‘The correction is doing what corrections do — increasing fear and frustration, decreasing glee and bullishness,’ he said.
   The economic outlook ‘has most folks confused,’ said Goldman.
   ‘We believe the data suggests that the end of the recession is near — that’s the good news for investors. However, the data also appears to indicate, as we have been saying for a month, that a strong economy is not just around the corner.’
   Similar views come from Stephen Auth, chief investment officer at Federated Investments.
   ‘Our view is that an economic recovery has in fact begun, and that a second or third dip, depending on how you count the waves we’ve had since the recession began ... is unlikely but not impossible,’ Auth said.
   ‘This forecast suggests that the outlook for returns on financial assets will likely be muted, and specifically that stocks are unlikely to return to their old highs anytime soon. This said, off current low levels, we do believe that the best returns investors can hope for over the next 12 to 18 months are likely to come from stocks, even if the pattern of getting there may be erratic.’
   Auth said the S&P 500 is likely to drift toward the 1,000 level, some 15 per cent above current levels, and that ‘the downside is ‘protected’ by the promise of continued government economic stimulus.’
   David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff, warned that stock investors should not look for strong gains simply based on a forecast of an end to recession, arguing that a ‘sustainable expansion’ is needed.
   ‘If the lesson from the 2000-2002 cycle is any indication, calling for the recession to end is basically irrelevant,’ Rosenberg said.
   ‘What matters is that the recession’s end gives way to a vigorous expansion.’
   Rosenberg said a recovery needs to produce gains in four areas — employment, production, sales and incomes — and that this does not seem to be happening.
   ‘From our lens, there is still no sign that we have reached that point where all four economic indicators have bottomed,’ he said. ‘Not even close, especially with respect to employment, production and income.’
   Richard Kelly, economist at TD Securities, said the strong 40 per cent rally from lows in March have been a result of too much exuberance.
   ‘Markets might have gotten ahead of themselves this past spring,’ Kelly said.
   ‘At the first sign of good news, equities rallied, but now with earnings season upon us, many analysts seem to be questioning whether the earnings expectations embedded in those higher prices can be met given the ongoing economic slack.’
   Gregory Drahuschak at Janney Montgomery Scott argued that much of the negative outlook has been priced into the market.
   ‘We think the economy is in the early stages of exiting a recessionary mode and into a period of modest but positive growth,’ he said.
   Drahuschak said investors need to be positioned for a 2010 recovery even if the signs are weak.
   ‘What the market thinks the data will be early in 2010 will impact stocks,’ he said ‘At some point in the not too distant future we continue to believe that the market will be in the midst of a major rally. We do not want to miss that move.’
   Bonds strengthened. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.413 per cent from 3.495 per cent a week earlier and that on the 30-year bond eased to 4.201 per cent from 4.317 per cent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The Indian Budget 2009-10 presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee earlier this week, has disappointed many Indian American investors as it does not focus adequately on some of the key issues, including disinvestment and infrastructure development, IACC said on Friday.
   Participants of a panel discussion organised here by the India America Chamber of Commerce said the budget does not adequately address the issues that investors are looking for, including disinvestment leading to the reduction of fiscal deficit and emancipation of the entrepreneurial spirit of India.
   Also it does not adequately address the issue of investment in education by allowing private universities and increased government spending, they said.
   Further, it does not address the issues of bolstering infrastructure for the power sector and of opening the economy to foreign investors, the Chamber said in a statement, which according to it is the majority opinion of the panellists at the discussion held in New York.
   However, Deputy Consul General Ajay K Gondane defended the budget as a necessary step in the road to inclusive and calibrated growth.
   He pointed out the example of Russia where quick disinvestment had led to chaos.
   He also pointed out that in the current market situation, the valuations may not be attractive enough for disinvestment.
   The chamber president Rajiv Khanna said that the Chamber would be presenting its recommendations to the Indian government soon. ‘The eyes of the world are now turned to see whether the brightest spot on the globe, India, will go the way of Mexico or will (it) truly emerge as a world economic power and the growth engine for the world,’ Khanna said.

Japan’s economy was paralysed for a decade as banks failed to deal with their troubled loans. That’s why it’s nothing short of stunning to discover some US banks are doing the same thing now.
   Despite all the tough talk out of Washington and Wall Street about how the US can’t repeat what happened in Japan, the reality is that banks are granting extensions to borrowers in one key category, commercial real-estate loans, so they don’t default. It’s a bet that economic conditions will improve before the loans come due.
   ‘They are kicking the can down the road, hoping things will be better soon,’ said Barry Ritholtz, head of the financial research firm FusionIQ and author of the new book ‘Bailout Nation.’
   This manoeuvring is being called ‘extend and pretend’ in financial circles, reflecting banks’ willingness to extend loan maturities because they believe - or hope- rental rates and building values could come back to levels seen during the peak of the real-estate market in 2007.
   Ritholtz and other financial experts worry that banks are just delaying the inevitable by not dealing with troubled loans now. And since commercial loans are such an important part of the portfolio of many small and midsized banks, it also could constrain their ability to make other new loans. An average of 20 per cent of local and regional banks’ loan exposure is in commercial real estate vs 4 per cent for the nation’s biggest banks, according to data from Deutsche Bank.
   ‘This is a bad strategy,’ said Bryan Marsal, CEO of the corporate restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal. ‘It is really about not facing up to where you are today.’
   Unlike fixed-rate home mortgages, most commercial property loans are structured as balloon notes. Borrowers pay only interest for the first five or 10 years until the loans mature, and then the entire amount must be paid back.
   In the boom years, rising rents and property values made it easy for borrowers to find multiple lenders willing to roll over these loans into new and often larger principal amounts that allowed owners to take out millions of dollars in cash to buy other properties.
   That game has come to a crashing halt. Cash flows are down on many properties as rental and occupancy rates have fallen, causing the value of many properties to drop significantly. That’s made it tougher for owners to refinance their loans.
   Delinquency rates on commercial loans have doubled in the past year to 7 per cent as more companies downsize and retailers close their doors, according to the Federal Reserve.
   In some cases, banks are offering a temporary fix by granting borrowers an extension on loan maturities. On paper, that looks like a plus for the bank because the borrower pays a fee or agrees to pay a higher interest rate, or both. This allows banks to avoid having to foreclose or write down these loans as impaired assets. They also can keep the loans on their books as if nothing were amiss.
   ‘This lets the banks post results that are misleading because the loans have more risk to them than they are disclosing,’ said Len Blum, managing partner at the investment-bank Westwood Capital. ‘They can pretend things are better than they are.’
   That’s just what banks in Japan did back in the 1990s. After its debt-fed real estate bubble burst, Japan slid into what has come to be known the ‘lost decade’ because of its drawn out economic and financial malaise.
   Even though the Japanese government injected trillions of yen into its banking system, new lending was constrained because troubled loans clogged banks’ balance sheets. In some cases, banks refused to foreclose when owners couldn’t even pay the interest. Instead, they added the unpaid interest to the loan’s principal in the hope that borrowers’ problems would be alleviated by an improving economic climate, which never materialized.
   What’s worrisome is the lack of transparency about how often this is happening now in the United States. Due to privacy issues, banks aren’t required to disclose details of specific loan extensions, and most news that does trickle out comes from public companies announcing that they have reached accommodations with their lenders.
   Just this week, Bluegreen Corp, a Boca Raton, Fla-based timeshare resort developer, said it had gotten the maturity dates of a combined $130.1 million in liabilities extended. Others getting loan extensions in recent months were Toys R Us, Tanger Factory Outlets and Washington Real Estate Investment Trust.
   The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. believes that extending the maturity on commercial real-estate loans can be a ‘value-maximizing and prudent approach,’ said FDIC spokesman Andrew Gray.
   Gray said that its examiners are trying to make sure the loan extensions are being done prudently, and that credit losses are being recognized appropriately. The FDIC directly examines and supervises about 5,160 banks and savings banks.
   Bob Seiwert, who heads the Centre for Commercial Lending and Business Banking at the American Bankers Association, said loan extensions should be done on a case-by-case basis and aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Banks need to assess the chances of the principal amount being repaid and evaluate the viability on the loan on an ongoing basis, he said.

General Motors completed an unusually quick exit from bankruptcy protection on Friday with ambitions of making money and building cars people are eager to buy. Once the world’s largest and most powerful automaker, new GM is now leaner, cleansed of massive debt and burdensome contracts that would have sunk it without federal loans.
   But GM, whose 40 days under court supervision was far shorter than anyone predicted, faces the worst auto sales slump in a quarter-century.
   At a news conference, CEO Fritz Henderson said the revamped automaker will be faster and more responsive to customers than the old one. It will generate cash and repay billions in government loans ahead of a 2015 deadline.
   The new company will build more cars and trucks that consumers want and launch them faster than in the past, the CEO said. GM also announced a partnership with eBay Inc to test auctioning vehicles online.
   ‘We recognise that we’ve been given a rare second chance at GM, and we are very grateful for that. And we appreciate the fact that we now have the tools to get the job done,’ he said.
   Known for its sluggish decision-making process and bloated management ranks, GM will create a single, eight-member executive committee to speed up day-to-day decision-making, replacing two senior leadership forums.
   Henderson, 50, said General Motors Corp. will streamline its bureaucratic management structure, cutting US salaried employment by 20 per cent, or 6,150 positions, by the end of 2009. The cuts include 450 executive jobs.
   Henderson, who was promoted to chief executive in March, will run the global company and oversee its North American operations. GM’s former chief operating officer, Henderson was chosen when president Barack Obama said former CEO Rick Wagoner’s restructuring plans didn’t go far enough.
   Top executives at the new company will focus on business results, new vehicles, brands and consumers.
   Bob Lutz, a legendary industry executive, was ‘unretiring’ to become a vice chairman responsible for creative elements of products, marketing and customer relationships, Henderson said. Lutz, 77, had previously planned to retire at the end of the year after more than four decades in the auto business.

From the top of Singapore’s Equinox bar you can see the city skyline and ship after ship after ship.
   Singapore claims to be the busiest port in the world. About 130,000 ships arrive there each year. But these days, the problem is many of those vessels are not putting back out to sea.
   The usual stay for a cargo carrier is just 10 days. That is enough time to offload one set of cargo and take on another load, re-fuel and re-stock supplies.
   But, of the 220 container ships arriving in Singapore this year, — excluding the tugs, yachts and bunkering vessels which are permanent port residents — more than half have stayed longer than that.
   Another 44 cargo ships have been in port for more than six months.
   It costs about $1,000 per day to keep a ship at Singapore port.
   On top of that, most of these ships would have been bought with multi-million dollar loans that need to be serviced.
   They will have a crew that needs to be paid, fed and watered. Engines and machinery that need to be maintained.
   All of this is necessary for a ship to maintain its class — the equivalent of an MOT or bill of health.
   Being taken ‘out of class’ means a ship cannot trade or earn money and cannot be insured for voyage on the open sea.
   The sharp downturn in world trade is behind this enforced idleness.
   And, in the absence of global economic recovery, all firms can do is minimise their costs.
   A ship owner can save up to 80 per cent of his or her running costs just by laying anchor 45 minutes south of Singapore, off the Indonesia islands of Batam-Rempang-Galang.
   Earlier this year, Rob Wilkins, general manager, Enviro Force, opened a new anchorage off Galang.
   ‘In Singapore you have to maintain a full crew (25-30 people on average) on-board your vessel,’ he says.
   ‘In Batam you don’t.
   ‘You can save on insurance costs, maintenance costs and crew costs by laying up here instead.’
   Wilkins and his partner Damian Chapman are serial entrepreneurs.
   For months, they have noticed more and more vessels idling in ports, running up huge costs. According to AXS Alphaliner, 511 container ships are laid up.
   That is a tenth of the global fleet. ‘Laying up’ is the term for taking a ship out of service.
   There are different levels: hot stacking requires the engines to be fired up every day, allowing a vessel to be brought back into service in days; but a vessel kept in cold stack can be welded closed with engines off for months at a time.
   At the most extreme end, ship owners can take the ship out of class and save hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance costs alone.
   But, these are drastic measures. Ship owners have a range of options before they lay-up their vessels. The most common is idling your vessel beyond the port perimeters.
   On the ferry between Batam and Singapore, Damian points out ships that have been left anchored for months.
   They don’t pay port dues which save them money but also mean they don’t have access to port services.
   One Singaporean shipmaster (who wants to remain unnamed) brags business is booming since he turned his two small service ships over to water supplies.
   Crew on these idling vessels are not allowed to go ashore for food or water.

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh has defended his government’s economic growth target of between eight and nine per cent, despite the global recession, a report said Saturday.
   Singh, on his way back from a meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations in Italy, said the world economy would take more time to recover.
   ‘It is not going to be easy but I am convinced ... we should be able to sustain, with a little bit effort, a growth rate of about 8.0 to 9.0 per cent notwithstanding the difficulties on the international front,’ Singh was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
   ‘I am, however, confident that our domestic economic strengths will enable us to return to our earlier path of rapid and inclusive growth.’
   Singh, 76, is credited with launching India on the path of economic reforms as finance minister in 1991.
   India’s economy grew by 6.7 per cent in the year ended March 31 — the slowest rate since 2003 and down from nine per cent a year earlier, as the effects of the global economic downturn hit home.
   India’s exports and industrial output contracted sharply between October and March — despite three stimulus packages.
   On Monday, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced increased funding for farmers and poverty alleviation programmes in a bid to set the country on the path to nine per cent growth while presenting the annual budget in parliament.
   About his talks with G8 leaders, Singh said ‘it is my sense that while there are some signs of recovery, the world economy is still a long way from recovering the earlier growth momentum’.

Premier Bank held its half-yearly managers’ conference at its head office at Banani in Dhaka on Saturday.
   Board of directors chairman Dr HBM Iqbal was present as chief guest.
   Directors Md Lutfur Rahman, Shah Md Nahian Haroon, Kazi Abdul Mazid, managing director Shah A Sarwar, additional managing directors Abu Haniff Khan and Md Mokhlesur Rahman were also present.
   The conference discussed various core issues of banking and business in participation of all branch managers across the country and all Divisional Heads at Head Office.

Warid Telecom signed a corporate agreement with Asiatic Mindshare Ltd, a leading communication planning and buying agency, on Wednesday to get media planning, buying and placement services.
   Warid chief executive officer Muneer Farooqui and Asiatic Mindshare’s managing director Sara Zaker signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides, a news release said.
   Warid Telecom chief commercial officer Marius Mihail Voinea, Asiatic Mindshare chairman Aly Zaker and other senior officials of both companies were also present during the signing ceremony.